bastille

bæˈstiːl

3 definitions

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#1·7h ago

Chiefly in French contexts: a rampart]] or other fortification or tower of a castle; also, a fortified tower or other building; or a small citadel or fortress.

Origin: [[File:Prise de la Bastille, le peuple entre.jpg|thumb|An 1897 engraving of the storming of the Bastille in Paris, France, on 14 July 1789 at the start of the French Revolution. Known in full as Bastille Saint-Antoine, the Bastille was a former fortress () used by the French monarchy as a prison in the 17th and 18th centuries.]] The is derived from , bastel, from , bastille, , and , basstel (modern ; compare ), from bastide with the ending modified after nouns ending in -ille (from ). Bastide is derived from , from bastir + -ida; while bastir is from *bastīre, from , from , from ; further e. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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#2·7h ago

(military, historical) The fortified encampment of an army besieging a place; also, any of the buildings in such an encampment.

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#3·7h ago

(transitive, also, figuratively) To confine (someone or something) in, or as if in, a bastille () or prison; to imprison.

Behold them Bastilling the mildest and most indulgent monarch that ever sat upon their throne;

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